This invention relates generally to connectors which connect one circuit board to another circuit board and more particularly to board-to-board connectors which have substantially zero insertion and withdrawal forces and which also have relatively small width dimensions, thereby allowing close spacing of a plurality of parallel daughter boards which are connected to a common, perpendicularly positioned mother board.
The general concept of positioning several parallel daughter boards to a commmon perpendicular mother board is well known in the art. One of the primary problems involved in connecting one circuit board to another circuit board through a connector is the insertion and withdrawal forces required for such connections and disconnections. In cases where the daughter board has a large number of edge contacts, the cumulative insertion or withdrawal force can become quite large, totalling many tenths of pounds.
Since such high insertion or withdrawal forces present obvious problems, such as strain on the mother board and also possible damage to each of the individual contacts of the daughter board, much effort has been expended in developing what is known as zero force insertion and withdrawal connectors. Most of these zero force insertion and withdrawal connectors have some type of cam or lever arrangement which, in one position, causes the contacts within the connector to spread apart, or at least retreat from the mating contacts on the edge of the board being inserted therein. After the circuit board is inserted, the lever or cam is manually operated to cause the contacts within the connector to be forced down upon the mating contacts on the edge of the inserted printed circuit board.
Such mechanisms are usually quite complex and fairly large so that parallel positioned daughter boards must be spaced relatively far apart upon the common perpendicular mother board.
In modern electronic circuit packaging it is highly desirable to space parallel daughter boards as close together as possible upon a common mother board in order to provide a smaller overall package.